448. "Catch Share" as the Next Level of the Literary-Multimedia Video Game::: First Publishing Experiment in Literary Magazines Since November 2005

Right now, since I am trying to publish "Catch Share" in more formal literary journals, I can't let the story see the light of day.... Only the underground.... *sigh* I like to put everything on my blog, but I like it how I have a "secret." Like the whole "Victoria what's your secret?" is now into play and I feel like I have backing from some of my favorite professors that I have something up my sleeve.... He he he....

I am only looking for the story publishing version of "Catch Share" so in this blog, I included a poem that I wrote the evening before I started writing the prose version. Poems are like warm-up compilations of thoughts to longer pieces. The PDF of the poem can be found here:
http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/2catchsharepoem.pdf.

Below is a PDF of a lengthy chronicle of all the hoops I went through thus far in order to be convinced that I am ready to start experimentation at the next playing field of publishing. I guess two major obstacles I overcame was receiving major encouragement and advice from Barry Spacks and Shelly Lowenkopf. It was the first time going to Shelly's that he "gave me the card," or, he gave me a card of a list of potential places to start considering submissions. Shelly gave me a very nice compliment, "This story is so whacky and so far out there that you better just get your self a roll of stamps, and keep submitting until someone accepts it for publication." Shelly's said other great pieces of advice and compliments about my writing, but this is the first time he ever encouraged me to go full gear into the publishing experimentation phase. In addition, along the way, Barry Spacks gave me advice to read Samuel Beckett, Gertrude Stein, Wendell Berry, and Lynda Barry. I did my initial survey of the literary magazine market in the PDF below, but very exclusive to my needs: (1) electronic preferred (2) simultaneous submissions preferred (3) I can submit now (as opposed to September) (4) prefers experimental work, words synthesized with images "graphic stories" genre (5) expects an ERUDITE AUDIENCE; TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE is a BONUS than a hindrance--e.g. ENVIRONMENTAL SLANT (5) prefers to see NEW and UNPUBLISHED writers (6) return response is rapid (6 weeks over 6 months).

http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/3gaugingcatchshareresponseFIRSTPUBLI.pdf.

Shelly gave me the card! Shelly gave me the card! Shelly gave me the card! Woohoo! The sad part is that three of these literary journals are closed to open submissions over the summer. *Sigh.*

All the places I sent my story to... all over the world... including England! That was four dollars in postage! Gawdzeeks!
I submitted to Zoetrope All Story Fiction contest (receipt above) and also Southern California Review Fiction contest: http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/7SCRfictionprizeform.pdf.

Anyhow, compared to my non-optimistic 2005 publishing experiment venture, I remain very optimistic and excited about this experiment. I have a new-found philosophy and can take rejections as if I accidentally swallowed an ant, not being struck by a lightning bolt. Rejections are part of the game. I think it's all about chance encounter, frequency of encounter, and developing compatibility. I am trying to make my writing the new invasive species of the literary community. I'm not trying to dominate, but more so subsist. What's more fun than that?

Blue Horizons Flagship Class Promotional Video, UC Santa Barbara, Summer 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9jDLqesF8I

Above is the "Blue Horizons" Flagship Class promotional video that was co-created by me (Vic), Nicole Bulalacao, and Maria de Oca. It's a bit rough in certain places, but overall it's superb. This is the only graded assignment I turned in for a grade that was a collaboration with other people. I learned that through collaboration, there involves great sacrifice (not in this circumstance, everything went well here, but in future projects I'll be working with). Several extreme views become canceled out, and the resulting film becomes... "conservative." *sigh* That's why sometimes I like to be solo. Simply because I'm not strapped down with "compromise" of other people's views. I was talking to Oscar Flores last night about how producing films is like being a part of a human experiment of governance and coordination of individuals in small human societies. Patterns and skews in communication and resource-energetics exchange regimes. You learn A LOT about human behavior under these conditions. It's better to play a real-live video game than play "human civilization" video games (Civilization 4 and Spore) on computer screens....

This promotional video will be used for a larger promotional video for Blue Horizons, which is currently being created by Hannah Apricot Eckberg and Nikki Ferri.